Last Shot at Love

Hush, the One speaks!!: Whooooo... this next chapter is going to suck. Why you ask? My best friend and I spent the night in a tent (it was COLD outside. COLD.) resulting in my getting roughly 4 hours of sleep last night. I'm also cranky because I missed Inuyasha. I did get s'mores though. That was spiffy. To top this off, I just got back from The Village. The adrenaline rush that I got from that is the only reason that I'm not snoozing right now. That and my gummi worms. I LOVE my gummi worms.

Now I respond. Respond, Bunny, respond.

Demon Darkchild: Wow. Now I feel special. Fwee for me XD

Locked: Dude...it's...it's LONG. It's really...long. And that sounded oddly wrong O.o; Yeah. Anyways. You have to say that because you're my friend and you know I'll get mad and refuse to roleplay with you if you said "This is stupid." Although, it did seemingly keep your attention. Wow. Mebbe it 'tis halfway decent. Yay for me.

Lady Starlight2: Awwww...lookit her dance. Dance, Lady, dance!!! Whoooooo...boy howdy. That was entertaining. Thank you for consistently reading. For this, you get a...er -looks around- tuft of fur from my doggie...? 's all fluffy an' stuff. ((Yesh. My dog is part collie so he doesn't shed. He just leaves this tuft things all over the house. My dog is as messed up as me.))

Brandon Rice: Wow ;;; -blush- I'm not that good, am I? Meh. Liar... oh well. This lie is nice. Carry on with the lying. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and giggly and stuff.

Wishfulthinker22: I am updating XD And yes. Yes, ear infections suck a lot. They make me make my sad face.

Wouldn't you like to know: I don't care who you are, so long as you review. I know the next chapter won't show... I'm thinking you have AOL? Yeah. Try via Internet Explorer. I've informed of the problem though. Hope it shows for you soon .

Gee Whiz. 10 whole reviews! ALL for the Bunny of Deathy-doom. I promise I will get you guys an illustration soon. I'm having a bit of an artist's block at the moment, however, so be patient. It may be all chibi-fied and stuff. Deal with it (You can not BELIEVE how hard the Detective Conan style is to replicate. The eyes are so. Effing. HARD. -falls over- meh.)

Disclaimer: Feh. What's with having to post all of these disclaimers? If I owned Detective Conan/Case Closed, I wouldn't have to write fanfiction. I could just boss people around to MAKE IT HAPPEN. Jeebus.

Last Shot at Love, File 2, Part 2

There was a silence on the other end, before a raspy voice chuckled. "Jimmy Kudo. Well, well, well. It IS a good thing we kept an operative watching over little Rachael then isn't it?"

Conan glared daggers at nothing in particular. This person was vile... he should have faked his own death. He just knew it. But then how would he explain coming back? 'Oh yeah. Rache, you know that Conan kid? Yeah. He was me. I was slipped a drug that made me into a kid.' THAT would be a one shot ticket to the looney bin. He realized he hadn't spoken for nearly 15 seconds, so he cleared his throat. "Where is she? I want to talk to her." he said firmly. He needed to be careful with this...

"In due time. Firstly, we want you to come down here for a little talk. We have an escort outside." said that raspy voice from the other end.

"First let me talk to Rachael." He needed to make sure she was still alive... that was common knowledge of anyone who had negotiated before.

"Fine, but only for a minute." the voice said huffily, like a child who lost a board game. Apparently they were being just as careful with this as he was. There was some scuffling and the sound of tape ripping off of something. There was also a loud 'OUCH!!' followed by even more scuffles. Finally, a girl's voice entered the receiver. Rachael's voice.

"Hello??" There was a definite note of desperation in her voice.

"Don't worry Rache. We're going to find you. Everything will be alright."

"Jimmy? Oh please come...please.... I'm--" But what she was Jimmy would more than likely never discover. The phone was jerked away, and the scuffling and struggling resumed in the background. The raspy voice returned.

"Come, Jimmy. She'll be dead by 4pm tomorrow if you don't come for her. It's 3:54 now." The phone clicked, followed by a dial tone. Conan stared at the floor, horrified. Rachael was going to die and it was his fault. This gave him roughly 24 hours to formulate some ingenious plan, pull it off, and cover it up somehow. And what did they mean by they had been watching Rachael? Had they figured it out? Or had they just looked into his background and found Rachael there? If they had, why hadn't they just pushed her into telling them? Well...she didn't know of course, but still. Maybe they had thought he was dead, but just wanted to be sure. Who knew. He didn't have time to wonder. He needed to find and get Rachael out of there. Now. He snuck upstairs (he was pretty sure he'd seen someone looking in the windows earlier.) and sunk onto a bed, dust flying everywhere. For starters, he needed to get out of his house without being seen. But how? The house was undoubtably being supervised and surrounded. The phone was probably being tapped too...He looked around. How could he do this? He couldn't very well tunnel out, and he couldn't just walk out. They'd figure out he was Jimmy and all his and Dr. Agasa's hard work would be in vain. But how could he get out? His head was beginning to hurt. He glanced out the window...it had started to snow, although it wasn't sticking to the roof, so it couldn't have been cold enough yet. That's when it hit him. He could sneak onto the roof, tie a couple of the window fire escapes together, and climb down the side where no one would be. Then he could climb Mr. Next Door's fence, and do the same for the next few houses. From there, he could find somewhere to hide out and use the phone until he could formulate a plan. He pondered as he fetched the needed escapes. Now who lives closest that I know and they wouldn't be after. He really didn't like the response he gave himself. Amy. That's who. Terrific. The love-struck midget was his only hope. He was quite fond of her in a friendly way, but that crush of her's was more than likely going to interfere. It was too cold outside, however, for him to walk all the way to Mitch or George's. And Agasa was gone. He couldn't take his skateboard either... it was too cloudy for that now, and the sidewalks were going to ice over, anyway.

The child sat down in a bathroom out of view of any windows, tying the needed rope ladders together carefully. Very carefully. After all, one bad knot and he would fall to his death. For a test, he shoved one end into a hall closet and pulled it taught, tugging with all his might. Everything was tight and secure. Time for phase two. He carefully wrapped himself up so as not to get sick. That was the last thing he needed. He also packed a backpack full of paperweights from his father's old study. Thankfully he had been a collector. After he was convinced he could pass even Rachael's strict expectations of clothing warmth, he climbed out onto the roof via a back window. He climbed to the gutter. All he could to was hope it would stick. He placed one end into the gutter, piling paperweights up onto it. He nervously put one foot, then another, then both hands onto the ladder. It held, but all the same he climbed down as quickly as possible. He also climbed the fence as fast as he could (it was a privacy fence... he was really thankful for those super stretch suspenders right about then) He had been correct in assuming the exits were being guarded..he could hear them from over the fence. He repeated the suspender process for the next several houses, reaching Amy's house within 20 minutes (he was running as fast as his scrawny little legs could carry him). He rung the doorbell, panting and feeling really hot but freezing all at once. A very curious sensation indeed. Amy opened the door and let out a squeal. The sort of squeal you let out when you were a child and your friend from down the street showed up on your doorstep.

"Conan!!" she cooed, ushering him inside. It was a nice house... clearly old, but still quite nice. It was furnished with older furniture, and looked vaguely like something you might find in an old cabin in the woods. Apparently her mother was making cookies, as the soft butter scent was wafting through the house. Amy was rushing around, grinning stupidly. "Come on... My mommy is making sweets! And I just got a Masked Yaiba tape!! We can watch it together. We have a fire going so we'll be all nice and warm!"

"Er...actually Amy, can we go to your room? I need to tell you something really important."

The child blushed furiously, nodding and leading him upstairs. Her room was what any typical first grade girl would have. It had pink wallpaper, stuffed animals, fluffy carpet, dolls, and a cute little twin bed. Posters bearing unicorns and various other pink things along with her loved Masked Yaiba were plastered over the walls. "So...what is it C-Conan?" she stuttered slightly. It was obvious she was expecting him to profess his undying love to her. Of course, that wasn't the case. He plopped down onto her bed, and she took a seat next to him. She got all starry eyed. Conan's gag reflex kicked in. He'd seen that look many a time from his fans. Being a soccer ace and the most well known male in your highschool defiantly had it's downsides. She was SEVEN. He was SEVENTEEN. Well, normally at any rate. He scooted back slightly before speaking.

"Now, I don't want you to scream or freak out, Amy. And you'll have to do exactly as I say, alright?"

She nodded, blinking. He certainly had an odd way of telling her his love burned for her like the intensity of a thousand white-hot suns... ((A/N: I couldn't resist stealing a quote from the Fairly Oddparents here. I just couldn't Please don't hit me ;; )) Oh well. To each his own, she supposed. She leaned foward slightly, batting those big, adorable eyes of hers. "Alright." she crooned softly. Conan scooted back again rather nervously. Clearing his throat, he resumed.

"We have a case. A real case. And I need your help. I can't tell you most of what's going on, but it involves someone being kidnaped and some really bad men. Will you swear upon," he glanced around the room for something of immense affection for Amy. " Masked Yaiba, to do exactly as you're told, not speak a word of this to anyone, and not ask any questions?" She blinked again. Okay. He didn't admit it...he would. In the meantime, she had something just as good. A real life case!! How neat was that?? She nodded hard, her hair flying around her face, grinning.

"Tell me, Conan?? What's going on? How can I help?!" He watched her tremble out of excitement. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. Then again, what kind of choice did he have? If he left it to the police Rachael would undoubtably die.

"Okay. A girl has been taken by a crime ring. It's our job to rescue her. Are you following me?" Amy nodded again. "Good. First, we have to figure out where they are. Then we'll sneak in, get the girl, and sneak out before they notice we're there." he nodded absently. Now if he could fill in the blanks of how to with those three things, they'd be in good shape. Amy stared before mimicking him. She didn't know why they were nodding, but it made her feel important and smart. Conan's intelligence blew her mind. Most kids her age would go hide under the bed if they heard someone had been kidnaped. But not Conan. That's why she thought she liked him so much. He was so brave and smart... She leaned foward again. She really shouldn't have done that. Within a moment, there was a loud thud and a soft sob emitted from the Amy. She had leaned foward so far she just fell clear off the bed. Conan gave a forced sort of smile. What kind of partnership did I just get myself into??

She speaks AGAIN!!: Hah. I couldn't resist that last bit. You lucky bums. 2 chapters put up in under 24 hours. The last chapter may take me a while, and I may have to split it in two like I did with this one. I need to formulate a definite plan myself XD Anywho. In your reviews you can post suggestions for illustrations. I myself am thinking of going with the ending scene here. It made me chuckle to myself. Yeah. O.o; Review. I'll make another bit of art for you guys once I get 20 reviews. Later losers! -poof-